Archive | Halloween

This caramel corn is one of the many food-related traditions in my family. All you have to do is boil the caramel ingredients for a few minutes, toss the popped popcorn in the caramel, and bake it in the oven to golden, crispy perfection.

When I want to play with food but I don’t have time to really be creative, I pull out the cookie cutters and let my four-year old son do the creating. Simply cutting sandwiches (and quesadillas) into different shapes is a fun project for him and it’s an easy way to make a holiday (or any day’s) meal more festive. Happy Halloween!

These cake pops without a chocolate candy coating came about by accident. In the middle of making cake pops we ran out of Wilton dipping chocolate but I realized that my whole family still devoured them. Admittedly, they are less polished looking, but they are also less sweet and we didn’t miss the chocolate coating at all.

Cutting cheese into shapes is super simple which allows you to make detailed scenes in a matter of minutes. The possibilities are endless and either you can serve your kids a completed scene or you can let them create their own.

The ever-popular Halloween candy presented the perfect inspiration for a fondant layer cake. I knew that I could use basic food coloring and get perfectly colored candy corn layers. This time I wanted to see if I could achieve a similar result with natural dyes.

A cross between a bar cookie and a muffin, these pumpkin oat bars make a simple and quick breakfast, after-school snack or dessert and they are an easy way to ensure that your family gets protein, omega 3’s, and whole grains that will give them enough energy for school, play or trick or treating.

My inspiration for this soup came from a curried butternut squash soup that was one of my favorites at a restaurant when I was younger. I used a basic recipe from The All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking as my guide, but I made several slight variations and ultimately added a bit of curry powder. For a festive autumn meal, serve the soup in hollowed out pumpkins.